James Cameron Says He Hopes Audiences Will Get "Avengers Fatigue" and Compares AVATAR Sequel To THE GODFATHER
With Titanic and Avatar, director James Cameron has made two of the most financially successful movies ever! The director is now currently in production on his four Avatar sequels. It's going to be really interesting to see how those turn out and how audiences will react to them when they start to be released. Since the first movie was released, Marvel Studios has made a huge impact on Hollywood and the kinds of films that we are seeing today.
Over the past ten years, Marvel Studios has built something incredible and the hype for Avengers: Infinity War is epically exploding! It doesn't seem like the excitement for these films is going to die down anytime soon. But, that doesn't stop James Cameron from hoping that audiences will start getting "Avengers fatigue" soon! While talking to Indie Wire, the filmmaker said:
"I’m hoping we’ll start getting 'Avenger' fatigue here pretty soon. Not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on guys, there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process. It’s like, oy!"
I think the movies and the stories told are a little bit more than that, and at the rate that Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War is going with ticket presales, and the box-office estimates there's a chance that it could surpass Cameron's top-grossing movies. Hell, Black Panther already dethroned Titanic! Maybe he just doesn't want to have to compete with these films when his Avatar movies come out!
This quote was brought up with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige during an interview with NY Mag, and this is how that conversation went down:
“‘There are other stories to tell,’” I said, quoting Cameron, “besides, you know, hypogonadal males…’”
“Hypogonadal!” said Feige.
I continued: “‘Hypogonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process.’
” Feige sat, processing the quote. I noted that Cameron prefaced his comments by saying, “[It’s] not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on, guys.”
“Uh, he loves the movies!” Feige said, a knowing grin spreading on his face. He stood up, pumping his arm. “That’s awesome! Wow, James Cameron loves our movies! That’s exciting!”
When talking about the upcoming Avatar sequels, he explains how they are like The Godfather, saying:
"I’ve found myself as a father of five starting to think about what would an 'Avatar' story be like if it was a family drama. What if it was 'The Godfather'? It’s a generational family saga. That’s very different than the first film."
He then goes on to offer an example of what he's talking about in terms of what having a family can give a story dynamic:
"What happens when warriors who are willing to go on suicide charges and leap off cliffs, what happens when they grow up and have their own kids? It becomes a very different story."
That's definitely some interesting insight. We don't know much about the story, but we do know that a lot of this first sequel is going to take place underwater and we are going to be introduced to a lot of new characters. Most notably the kids of Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri's (Zoe Saldana), who will play a large role over the course of the sequels.
The Avatar sequels will also see the return of Joel David Moore, Matt Gerald, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, and Stephen Lang, who will be back as the main villain. Cliff Curtis and Oona Chaplin are also in the sequels.
The Avatar sequels have a budget of $1 billion dollars and Fox is releasing Avatar 2 on December 18, 2020, Avatar 3 on December 17, 2021, Avatar 4 on December 20, 2024, and Avatar 5 on December 19, 2025.